The Epistle to the Galatians
Table of Contents
The Epistle to the Galatians: Galatians 1:1-9
No human mind, or minds, however many and however wise, could have planned and prepared a book such as we have in the Bible, a book of unfailing guidance exactly meeting the needs of the children of God through the centuries, and today shedding its broad beams of heavenly light over a very dark world, for all who are subject to it. This book professes to be, and it is, the Word of God; the believer finds the needs of his soul met therein; finds the path of obedience in it, and, his sorrows relieved, his errors corrected, a heavenly joy filling his heart, as Christ becomes increasingly the object before him, he pursues his course toward an assured end at his Saviour's side in glory.
The Epistle to the Romans makes plain what man is, lost and undone, and how a holy and righteous God can save lost sinners; nothing can separate the subjects of His grace from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The Epistles to the Corinthians point out many of the pitfalls which the old nature within, and Satan, the enemy of our souls, would use to the believer's loss. (How thankful we should be for this, because these very evils abound around us today!) The truth of the "one body," comprising all believers, is found in the Corinthians; so is a chapter dealing with the Lord's supper, and others tell of the Holy Spirit's work in the Assembly, of the coming of the Lord, and many other subjects forming part of the instruction the believer needs.
The Epistle to the Galatians differs from Romans wherein positive truth is presented, in that the recovery of the truth formerly known is what is pressed in the Epistle now before us. Perhaps the first mention of Satan's successful scheme to corrupt the gospel is found in Acts 15:1-31. In Acts 21:20-22 we see that the Jewish believers at Jerusalem were inoculated with this evil mixture of law and grace, though they had learned that the apostle Paul taught the Jews as he did the Gentiles who believed, justification by faith without the deeds of the law (Rom. 3:28).
Portions of 2 Corinthians 11 and 12 seem to indicate that the false teachers who had found an entrance in that Assembly in the apostle's absence, were trying to get the Gentile believers converted to Satan's device of law and grace—Judaism and Christianity. Philippians 1:15 and 3:2-7, 18-19; Colossians 2:14-17 and 1 Timothy 1:3-11 among other passages show how extended were these efforts of the devil to corrupt the truth while Paul was yet alive. Today this corruption of the truth in varying degree is all but universal, notwithstanding its condemnation in the pages of Scripture.
"God, it is true, in His love has suited the gospel to the wants of man. The enemy brings down that which still bears its name to the level of the haughty will of man and the corruption of the natural heart, turning Christianity into a religion that suits that heart, in place of One that is the expression of the heart of God—an all-holy God—and the revelation of that which He has done in His love, to bring us into communion with His holiness ... "
"God allowed this invasion of His assembly in the earliest days of its existence, in order that we might have the answer of divine inspiration to these very principles, when they should be developed in an established system which would claim submission from the children of God as being the church that He had established, and the only ministry that He acknowledged." (Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: Galatians, J. N. Darby).
We turn to the text of the Epistle: "Paul, apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father who raised Him from among the dead, and all the brethren with me, to the assemblies of Galatia. Grace to you, and peace, from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, so that He should deliver us out of the present evil world, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory to the ages of ages. Amen." (verses 1-5, JND).
Of the nine Epistles of Paul addressed to assemblies, this to the Galatians has the most singular form of address. In writing to the Corinthians he had referred to his apostleship as through, or by, the will of God; here the language is, "not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ." Halted near Damascus in his course as the chief of sinners by the Lord Himself, we see in Acts 9 to verse 30, in chapter 11:25-30, and chapter 12:25, with the beginning of chapter 13, Paul's history from that meeting on the Damascus road to the commencement of the work outside of Israel's land to which he was called by the Holy Spirit.
Knowing well what Satan would do to corrupt the gospel, the Lord chose the servant through whom He would make it fully known, chose the place and circumstances of his conversion, dealt with him, not as with the twelve on earth, but as the risen and glorified One, kept him apart from the twelve apostles at Jerusalem in Arabia, and distant Tarsus first, and afterward at Antioch (both these places far to the north of Israel's land) during years of preparation, that his apostleship might be altogether "not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father who raised Him from among the dead."
"And all the brethren that are with me;" his brethren, then with the apostle, his companions in service, are united with him; "to the assemblies of Galatia"; setting them apart as though they had taken up with something, some bad teaching (as indeed they had), for which they must be dealt with.
The apostle wishes, as in all his letters, grace and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, but here adds, "who gave Himself for our sins, so that He should deliver us out of the present evil world, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory to the ages of ages. Amen." Since He gave Himself for our sins, our sins are gone from God's sight in that one perfect offering; and our present position, through His grace, is that He will deliver us in body, as He has already done for our souls, out of the present evil world, which has been judged. Now these things are completely at variance with Judaism, with the principles of law keeping for salvation. The law looks at a man in the world, alive in his sins, and bids him, "Do this and live," establishing, if he can, his own righteousness here in the world. And many are quite prepared to go on such a footing.
Verses 6-9: "I wonder that ye thus quickly change from him that called you in Christ's grace to a different gospel which is not another one; but there are some that trouble you, and desire to pervert the glad tidings of the Christ. But if even we or an angel out of heaven announce as glad tidings to you anything besides what we have announced as glad tidings to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, now also again I say, if any one announce to you as glad tidings anything besides what ye have received, let him be accursed" (JND).
In but a few years the believers in Galatia had turned from the apostle Paul's teaching of the whole truth of God in its purity, to an adulteration of it, an addition to it. As another has expressed it, to add anything was to deny the perfection of the entirely heavenly revelation of God; to alter its character was to corrupt it. The apostle is not speaking of a doctrine openly opposed to it, but of that which is outside of the gospel he had preached. Thus there cannot be another gospel; it is a different gospel, but there are no glad tidings but what he had preached. Whoever turned away the saints from the perfect truth Paul had preached, let him be accursed.
The Epistle to the Galatians: Galatians 1:10-2:10
"For do I now seek to satisfy men or God? Or do I seek to please men? If I were yet pleasing men, I were not Christ's bondman. But I let you know, brethren, as to the glad tidings which were announced by me, that they are not according to man. For neither did I receive them from man, neither was I taught them, but by revelation of Jesus Christ.
"For ye have heard what was my conversation formerly in Judaism, that I excessively persecuted the assembly of God, and ravaged it, and advanced in Judaism beyond many my contemporaries in my nation, being exceedingly zealous of the doctrines" (or traditions) "of my fathers. But when God, who set me apart even from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me, that I may announce Him as glad tidings among the nations, immediately I took not counsel with flesh and blood, nor went I up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went to Arabia, and again returned to Damascus.
"Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to make acquaintance with Peter, and I remained with him fifteen days; but I saw none other of the apostles but James the brother of the Lord.
"Now what I write to you, behold, before God, I do not lie. Then I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. But I was unknown personally to the assemblies of Judea which are in Christ, only they were hearing that he who persecuted us formerly, now announces the glad tidings of the faith which formerly he ravaged; and they glorified God in me" (verses 10-24, JND).
In the first words of the Epistle the inspired writer had said of himself, "Paul, apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father who raised Him from among the dead"; he was sent forth as Christ's servant to make known His gospel;—was he to seek to satisfy men or God? The answer was at hand; "If I were yet pleasing men, I were not Christ's bondman!" (verse 10). The gospel is not pleasing to men; they reject His grace; would keep God at a distance.
The apostle insists at the outset that the "glad tidings," or gospel, as the ordinary version has it, which he announced, were not according to man, nor received from man, nor was he taught them, but by revelation of Jesus Christ. Several references to revelations are found in the Epistles; one that week by week on the Lord's Day morning (less frequently for many, to their loss) addresses itself to the Christian heart, is 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. Important was it that Paul should know of the Lord's institution of the memorial bread and wine, in partaking of which His people should have Him before their hearts according to His word, "This do in remembrance of Me." Gathered in the fewest number, and in much feebleness, as they may be in these days, yet what is there on earth to compare with the meeting when the disciples come together to break bread as they did in Troas (Acts 20:7)?
"Judaism," or "the Jew's religion" (verses 13-14) is the apostle's name for what had been owned of God, but could no longer be, since the cross. God-fearing souls there were who went on with it, but the case of Israel before God was closed when they rejected and put to death their Messiah.
Verse 16: God's revealing His Son in Paul brings to our thoughts that other signally honored servant, Peter, whose confession of Jesus as Israel's Messiah and more as the Son of the living God (Matt. 16:16) brought to him:
"Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven."
Peter was the first to whom the truth of Christ's heavenly and divine glory was made known, as Paul was the first to learn of the union of Christ and the church (Eph. 3).
How much must have been included in those communications to Paul, when God was pleased to reveal His Son in him! "Immediately," he says, "I took not counsel with flesh and blood, nor went I up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went to Arabia, and again returned to Damascus."
As with Moses who, before entering upon his period of active service as the leader of the children of Israel, must spend forty years at the back side of the desert, so Paul must be alone in Arabia before he is ready for the Lord's service.
Three years pass, and Paul goes to Jerusalem to make acquaintance with Peter, remaining with him fifteen days; what a meeting that must have been, as each learned of the other how the Lord had led him! This would be the occasion referred to in Acts 9:26-31.
Verse 21: The regions of Syria and Cilicia are represented by Antioch and Tarsus in the accounts of Acts 9:30; 11:25-26.
"Then after a lapse of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus also with me; and I went up according to revelation, and I laid before them the glad tidings which I preach among the nations, but privately to those conspicuous among them, lest in any way I run or had run in vain; (but neither was Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, compelled to be circumcised); and it was on account of the false brethren brought in surreptitiously, who came in surreptitiously to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage; to whom we yielded in subjection not even for an hour, that the truth of the glad tidings might remain with you.
"But from those who were conspicuous as being somewhat—whatsoever they were, it makes no difference to me; God does not accept man's person; for to me those who were conspicuous, communicated nothing; but on the contrary seeing that the glad tidings of the uncircumcision were confided to me" (or, I was entrusted with the glad tidings of the uncircumcision) "even as to Peter that of the circumcision (for He that wrought in Peter for the apostleship of the circumcision wrought also in me towards the Gentiles) and recognizing the grace given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were conspicuous as being pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship that we should go to the nations, and they to the circumcision; only that we should remember the poor, which same thing also I was diligent to do" (chapter 2, verses 1-10, JND).
The fifteenth chapter of the Acts also tells of this conference, with the circumstances surrounding it. "Certain men which came down from Judea" taught the brethren at Antioch, that unless they were circumcised after the custom of Moses they could not be saved. This, as might be expected, caused a commotion, and no small discussion on the part of Paul and Barnabas against the men. In the wise ordering of God the matter was left open at Antioch in order that it might be taken before the apostles and elders at Jerusalem, for a decision which would maintain unity, silence opposition.
Acts 15 gives the outward history, while Galatians 2 brings out what governed the apostle's heart at this juncture. Paul, Barnabas and certain others were to go to Jerusalem to lay the matter before the leaders; Paul tells us that he went according to revelation and that he took with him Titus, a Gentile believer who had not been circumcised. Opportunity was then taken by our apostle to put before the leaders at Jerusalem that which he taught—which, if we except Peter they had evidently not known, or had known but imperfectly before.
The result of this preliminary and private meeting was that Paul was acknowledged as having been taught of God altogether independently of themselves, and it was seen that his ministry was sent of God; he was acting for God as much as they. The leaders contributed nothing to Paul's doctrine, but gave to him and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship that they should go to the nations, while the former, James, Peter and John, should go to the Jews.
We can see the wisdom of God in the time of this meeting; it was not until Paul had continued many years in the service of his Lord, and had, with Barnabas, carried the gospel far into the regions beyond Israel's borders.
From Acts 15:5-29 we learn of the later meeting at Jerusalem called to consider the demand that believers (among the Gentiles) should be circumcised and should keep the law of Moses. Here Peter gave a clear testimony against this corruption of the gospel, showing that law-keeping for salvation was not in the purpose of God for Jew or Gentile; salvation was through grace alone (verses 7-11). The opposition was silenced and James expressed the judgment of the assembly that Gentile believers should not be troubled on this question.
The Epistle to the Galatians: Galatians 2:10-21
Chapter 2:10 to 21
"But when Peter came to Antioch I withstood him to the face, because he was to be condemned; for before that certain came from James, he ate with those of the nations; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing those of the circumcision; and the rest of the Jews also played the same dissembling part with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away, too, by their dissimulation.
"But when I saw that they do not walk straightforwardly, according to the truth of the glad tidings, I said to Peter before all, if thou, being a Jew, livest as the nations and not as the Jews, how dost thou compel the nations to Judaize? We, Jews by nature, and not sinners of the nations, but knowing that a man is not justified on the principle of works of law, nor but by the faith of Jesus Christ, we also have believed on Christ Jesus, that we might be justified on the principle of the faith of Christ, and not of works of law; because on the principle of works of law no flesh shall be justified.
"Now if in seeking to be justified in Christ we also have been found sinners, then is Christ minister of sin. Far be the thought. For if the things I have thrown down, these I build again, I constitute myself a transgressor. For I through law have died to law, that I may live to God. I am crucified with Christ, and no longer live, I, but Christ lives in me, but in that I now live in flesh, I live by faith, the faith of the Son of God, who has loved me and given Himself for me.
"I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness is by law, then Christ has died for nothing" (verses 11-21, JND).
Peter had done well in his testimony at the Jerusalem conference, but he failed sadly at Antioch. Before "certain came from James"—probably Jewish believers from Jerusalem where Judaism had its center—Peter ate with the Gentile believers, as of course he should; but when these others came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing the newcomers; and the other Jews followed his example, even Barnabas, Paul's companion, among them.
If Peter did not realize the gravity of what he was doing, Paul did, and he at once took Peter to task before all. The occasion was not one where the feelings of another could be considered and he be spoken to privately about his error. Nor could the fact that God had acted mightily in Peter, who was beyond question reckoned one of the chief apostles, justify silence about the offense. Finally no question of apostolic rank, as of Peter's being Paul's superior, to whom deference must be shown, could be raised, for Peter had no such appointment.
The Lord had committed the gospel to Paul's responsibility, and silence could not be permitted where that gospel was falsified. To Peter therefore he said before all:
"If thou, being a Jew, livest as the nations ... how dost thou compel the nations to Judaize? We, Jews by nature ... have believed on Christ Jesus, that we might be justified on the principle of the faith of Christ, and not of works of law; because on the principle of works of law no flesh shall be justified, etc."
Paul's words went right to the heart of the matter, the Holy Spirit by him showing how much was involved in Peter's act. In order for Gentile believers to enjoy full Christian communion, they must live as Jews, if Peter's example should stand; yet he had before felt free to live as the Gentiles did. But said the Lord's faithful servant in pointed words of truth:
"We, Jews by nature and not sinners of the nations, but knowing that a man is not justified on the principle of works of law; nor but by the faith of Jesus Christ, we also have believed on Christ Jesus, that we might be justified on the principle of the faith of Christ and not of works of law; because on the principle of works of law no flesh shall be justified."
In Romans 3:20, we have the conclusion stated:
"Therefore, by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His (God's) sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin," and, a few verses following, there is:
"Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." (verse 24).
It may be well to remark that, as the careful reader may have noticed, the better translations have "works of law" or "deeds of law," not "the works (or deeds) of the law" as in the common version of our Bible. The language in the original would apply to any deeds under any laws or rules, not the ten commandments only.
Verse 17. Going back to the law after receiving Christ had this effect, that having ceased to seek righteousness by the law in order to come to Him, and now judging that they had done wrong in giving up the law, Christ was made to be a minister of sin, because He had made them transgressors under it; as another has expressed it, "If after you have got Christ you are only found through the law to be a sinner, you in effect make Christ the minister of sin." Monstrous thought!
Verse 18. In coming to Christ, I give up the law as the ground of my hope of salvation; and if I turn back to the law, I make myself a transgressor under it, for the law condemns me, cannot deliver, cannot save me.
Commenting on Peter's failure and nature's tendency to lean upon ordinances, the well-known writer frequently quoted in these pages has this to say:
"What a result from the weakness which, in order to please men, had returned to those things that were gratifying to the flesh! How little did Peter think of this! How little do many Christians suspect it! To rest upon ordinances, is to rest upon the flesh; there are none in heaven. When Christ, who is there, is everything, it cannot be done. Christ has indeed established ordinances to distinguish His people from the world, by that which signified on the one hand that they were not of it, but dead with Him to it, and on the other hand, to gather them on the ground of that which alone can unite them all—on the ground of the cross and of accomplished redemption, in the unity of His body.
"But if, instead of using them with thanksgiving according to His will, we rest upon them, we have forsaken the fullness, the sufficiency, of Christ, to build upon the flesh, which can thus occupy itself with these ordinances, and find in them its fatal sustenance, and a veil to hide the perfect Saviour of whose death, as in connection with this world, and with man living in the flesh, these ordinances so plainly speak to us. To rest upon Christian ordinances is exactly to deny the precious and solemn truth which they present to us, that there is no longer righteousness after the flesh, since Christ is dead and risen." (Synopsis: Galatians; J. N. Darby)
Verse 19: "For I through law have died to law, that I may live to God."
Once Paul had been under law; his conscience awakened, he saw what he was as a condemned sinner, deserving eternal judgment; his soul then had realized death in all its power. Through law he died to law, because law has nothing to say to a dead man; died to it, in order that he might live to God.
Verse 20: "I am crucified with Christ, and no longer live, I, but Christ lives in me."
Christ had borne sin's judgment, suffered the curse of the law of God and death, yet lives, the risen one. Paul was set free in Christ, outside of the law in grace; was crucified with Him, so that condemnation was gone for him. Nevertheless he lived, no longer Paul, but Christ living in him.
"But in that I now live in flesh, I live by faith, the faith of the Son of God, who has loved me and given Himself for me."
Happy Paul! living in flesh, as he says, he lives by faith, the faith of the Son of God; he has an all attractive object before his soul, outside of this world; and that object is the One who loved him and gave Himself for him.
Verse 21. This gives the conclusion of the whole matter. The grace of God is not frustrated, and Christ has not died in vain, thinking of the present enjoyment of Christ which the believer may have, of which he is robbed by the false teaching, much current in our day, another has said:
"What a loss, dreadful and inseparable, to lose such a Christ as we under grace have known Him; such a righteousness; such a love; the Son of God our portion, our life; the Son of God devoted for us, and to us!"
The Epistle to the Galatians: Galatians 3
We have seen, in chapters 1 and 2, the care with which God guarded the gospel of His grace so that we should have it in its purity, just as it was communicated to the apostle Paul. Is it not equally impressed on our minds and hearts that we should live in the full light of this Word of God, which has been preserved to us in order that we may share in its benefits as fully as in the days of the apostles?
"O senseless Galatians, who has bewitched you, to whom, as before your very eyes, Jesus Christ has been portrayed, crucified? This only I wish to learn of you, have ye received the Spirit on the principle of works of law, or of the report of faith? Are ye so senseless? Having begun in Spirit, are ye going to be made perfect in flesh? Have ye suffered so many things in vain, if indeed also in vain? He therefore who ministers to you the Spirit, and works miracles among you, is it on the principle of works of law, or of the report of faith? Even as Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." (verses 1-6, JND).
Well might the apostle write, "O senseless Galatians, who has bewitched you; to whom, as before your very eyes, Jesus Christ has been portrayed, crucified?" Observe, it is not simply that Christ has died, or that He shed His precious blood, but His having been crucified; the reason for this reference to His cross is because it puts shame upon man, shows the impossibility of man's improvement by keeping the law.
They had received the Holy Spirit, the certain mark of a believer; had they received Him through works on the principle of law, or through a report received by faith? Having begun by the power of the Spirit, were they going to be made perfect in flesh? They had suffered persecution on account of the gospel received in its purity, without the admixture of Judaism and the law; was it all in vain? He (it was Paul) who ministered to them the Spirit, and worked miracles among them—was it through works on the principle of law or in connection with a testimony received by faith? These were searching questions, indeed, for them to answer. Not many years before, the Galatians had been idolaters. Was it through hearing of the law, or the grace of God, that the light had penetrated their darkened minds?
"Even as Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Know then that they that are on the principle of faith, these are Abraham's sons; and the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations on the principle of faith, announced beforehand the glad tidings to Abraham: In thee all the nations shall be blessed. So that they who are on the principle of faith, are blessed with believing Abraham. For as many as are on the principle of works of law are under curse. For it is written, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them; but that by law no one is justified with God is evident, because the just shall live on the principle of faith; but the law is not on the principle of faith; but, he that shall have done these things shall live by them. Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, Cursed is everyone hanged upon a tree) that the blessing of Abraham might come to the nations in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." (verses 6-14, JND).
Verse 6 is a reference to Genesis 15:6: "And he believed in the Lord, and He counted it to him for righteousness." "Know then," says the apostle, "that they that are on the principle of faith, these are Abraham's sons"; not a question being raised (nor could be) of circumcision, or of keeping the law of Moses. Genesis 12:3 is next drawn upon as the scripture announcing beforehand the glad tidings to Abraham, foreseeing that God would justify the nations on the principle of faith. "So that they who are on the principle of faith are blessed with believing Abraham." So much for the reward of faith apart from works.
Verses 10-12 discuss the hopeless case of those that are on the principle of works. "As many as are on the principle of works of law are under curse." Note that it is not said that as many as have broken some part of the law are under curse, but that all who take their stand on law are; the fact is that all are sinners, all have sinned. The quoted passages in verse 10 from Deuteronomy 27:26, and in verse 11, from Habakkuk 2:4, show that the door to justification before God on the ground of law keeping is completely closed.
When then is God's provision for the Jew whose conscience has been reached by the discovery of his apparently hopeless case as a sinner, and under the law's curse? Verses 13-14 very preciously tell it for faith's acceptance: "Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, Cursed is every one hanged upon a tree) that the blessing of Abraham might come to the nations in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."
"Us" in verse 13 refers to the believing Jews; compare Christ's having become a curse by hanging on the cross with 2 Corinthians 5:21: "For He hath made Him to be sin for us, He who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." "We" in verse 14 takes in all believers.
The first part of our chapter has been devoted to the contrast of the principles of law and of faith. The law brings a curse upon all that are under it; but God will be a blesser; man's failure cannot keep Him from exercising His sovereign purpose to bless the creatures of His hand, and in perfect grace He does so through faith in the person and work of His Son.
In the section of the chapter which follows, the subject is the relationship between the law, and the promises of God to Abraham.
"Brethren (I speak according to man), even man's confirmed covenant no one sets aside, or adds other dispositions to. But to Abraham were the promises addressed, and to his seed; He does not say, And to seeds, as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed; which is Christ. Now I say this, A covenant confirmed beforehand by God, the law, which took place four hundred and thirty years after, does not annul, so as to make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance be on the principle of law, it is no longer on the principle of promise; but God gave it in grace to Abraham by promise. Why then the law? It was added for the sake of transgressions, until the seed came to whom the promise was made, ordained through angels in the hand of a mediator. But a mediator is not of one, but God is one" (verses 15-20, JND).
Two passages of Scripture are referred to in verse 16: the promise in Genesis 12:3, "in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed," and the confirmation in Genesis 22:18, "And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." The first was spoken to Abraham at the beginning; the second was when he had in figure given his son as a sacrifice. The law given at Sinai, four hundred and thirty years after the unconditional promise to Abraham, could not make that promise of no effect.
Why then was the law given? "For the sake of transgressions"; there is a question between God and man, a question of sin and the guilt of man; and it was necessary that it be raised. Righteousness was therefore required, and sin was in consequence made manifest in the form of transgressions of the law; thus the conscience was reached. Man was made to see that he could not stand before God on the ground of his own responsibility.
The law was ordained through angels, in the hand of a mediator (Moses), unlike the promise which was made to Abraham by God in person. The law is a contract between God and the children of Israel, with Moses standing between as the mediator, but while the contract was perfectly sound, it has failed because of man's guilt. God therefore stands alone, and will accomplish the blessing He purposed when He spoke to Abraham in Genesis 12.
"Is then the law against the promises of God? Far be the thought! For if a law had been given able to quicken, then indeed righteousness were on the principle of law; but the Scripture has shut up all things under sin, that the promise, on the principle of faith of Jesus Christ, should be given to those that believe. But before faith came, we were guarded under law, shut up to faith which was about to be revealed. So that the law has been our tutor up to Christ, that we might be justified on the principle of faith.
"But faith having come, we are no longer under a tutor; for ye are all God's sons by faith in Christ Jesus. For ye, as many as have been baptized unto Christ, have put on Christ. There is no Jew or Greek; there is no bondman nor freeman; there is no male and female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus; but if ye are of Christ then ye are Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise" (verses 21-29, JND).
To verse 25 the subject is Israel. Note the change in verse 26 from "we" to "ye," verse 27. Baptism sets forth in a Christian the confession of the death and resurrection of Christ; I am in a wholly new condition; I belong to Christ, and no more (if I had been a Jew) under the law; now with new feelings I am to do what pleases Him.
The Epistle to the Galatians: Galatians 4:1-11
In the last section of the third chapter it was pointed out that the law was not against the promises of God. If a law had been given that was to impart life, then indeed righteousness would have been on the principle of law, but the Scripture has shut up all under sin in order that the promise, by faith in Jesus Christ, should be accomplished in favor of those who believe. But before faith in Christ came, the Jews were kept under the law, shut up to the faith which was about to be revealed.
The law was then the tutor or teacher of the Jews until Christ came, that they might be justified on the principle of faith. Faith having come, says the apostle, we are no longer under a tutor, for ye are all God's sons by faith in Christ Jesus. Believers are no longer viewed as Jews or Gentiles; all natural and man-made distinctions are gone, and "ye are all one in Christ Jesus." But, it is added, if ye are of Christ, then ye are Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise.
"Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he differs nothing from a bondman, though he be lord of all; but he is under guardians and stewards until the period fixed by the father. So we, also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the principles of the world; but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, come of woman, come under law, that He might redeem those under law, that we might receive sonship. But because ye are sons, God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying Abba, Father. So thou art no longer bondman, but son; but if son, heir also through God" (verses 1-7 JND).
All this is surely plain, and as we read it over, we see that all is of God; His eternal purposes are revealed. And in marvelous grace He has acted, after waiting until the "fullness of the time" had been reached, when man's history had shown him not only without strength to act toward God, but also a sinner. God's Son came into the world, taking a relationship with men in lowly grace. Sin and death came in by the woman, and Christ came into the world by woman, though Himself without sin and not subject to death. Through law, man is under condemnation, and Christ in grace put Himself under law also, and thus He came to redeem, that believers might receive sonship, and because they are sons, God has sent the Spirit, whereby they cry Abba, Father. Precious, indeed, this working of divine grace in our souls! What an exchange from the bondage of the Gentiles in nature's darkness, and the bondage of the Jews under law, for the place of God's sons and heirs!
"But then indeed, not knowing God, ye were in bondage to those who by nature are not gods; but now, knowing God, but rather being known by God, how do ye turn again to the weak and beggarly principles to which ye desire to be again anew in bondage? Ye observe days and months and times and years. I am afraid of you, lest indeed I have labored in vain as to you" (verses 8-11, JND).
It is those who had been Gentiles to whom the apostle addresses himself as not knowing God in their former state, because the Jews had a certain knowledge of God under the law. How they must have been shocked at the words, "How do ye turn again to the weak and beggarly principles to which ye desire to be again anew in bondage?" What they had turned to, was the observance of days and seasons, which was a practice of their former human religion, and had a considerable part in it. The Jew, too, had his days and months, etc., of religious observance, originally provided by God as part of a religious system whose purpose was done away at the cross of Christ.
The Galatians, as another has said, "desired to be again in bondage to these wretched elements, worldly and carnal, to which they had formerly been in subjection; these things of which the carnal man could form his religion, without one moral or spiritual thought, and which placed the glory due to God in outward observances which an unbeliever and a heathen ignorant of God could call his religion, and glory in it." (J. N. Darby, Synopsis, Galatians, Chapter 4).
The same writer continues, "Judaism was a human religion ordained of God, but by going back to it, when the ordinance of God was no longer in force, they did but go back to the paganism out of which they had been called to have part with Christ in heavenly things.
"Nothing can be more striking than this statement of what ritualism is after the cross. It is simply heathenism, going back to man's religion when God is fully revealed."
Another writer's remarks in the same connection must find a place here: "How turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Weigh that expression well. There can not be a more solemn statement as regards the present state of Christendom. What does he mean by saying that these Galatian saints were returning again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which they desired again to be in bondage? They must have been perfectly shocked. Turning again to idolatry! How could this be? They might say, we are only taking up the principle of the law: do you call this the weak and beggarly elements? Why, says the apostle, when you were unconverted you worshipped false gods—idols; but if you, Christians, go and take up Jewish principles, even these feast-days or other principles of the law, you are in principle idolaters, turning back again to that idolatry out of which God delivered you. How is this? The reason is plain. It was not that the law in itself could be idolatrous, or that God did not forbear toward the prejudice of those that were Jews. But here were the Gentile believers resorting to these legal elements. Who told them? These things had lost all their meaning, and a Gentile had nothing to do with them; they had their value as a shadow of Christ, before Christ came; but to turn back from Christ risen from the dead to these mere shadows was in God's sight going back to idolatry. Whenever professing Christendom takes up the law, with its external ceremonials and shadows (quite right as all this was under the law) and adopts them as Christian worship, it has unconsciously, but really, fallen into idolatry.
“...The Holy Ghost presses this upon these Galatian believers, for the evil was only in the germ. If this be true, what a sin to take part in, to countenance or sanction in any way that which is idolatry in God's judgment! The evil is increasing most rapidly. It is not confined now to popery... The essence of our blessing lies in the soul's enjoying Christ by the Word of God—the Holy Ghost giving this enjoyment of Christ apart from everything that acts upon the natural eye or mind. (Wm. Kelly, Lectures on Galatians, published in 1864).
The Epistle to the Galatians: Galatians 4:12-31
"Be as I am, for I also am as ye, brethren, I beseech you; ye have not at all wronged me. But ye know that in weakness of the flesh I announced the glad tidings to you at the first; and my temptation which was in my flesh ye did not slight nor reject with contempt; but ye received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. What then was your blessedness? (or, what blessedness was then yours!) for I bear you witness that, if possible, plucking out your own eyes ye would have given them to me.
"So I have become your enemy in speaking the truth to you? They are not rightly zealous after you, but desire to shut you out from us, that ye may be zealous after them. But it is right to be zealous at all times in what is right, and not only when I am present with you—my children, of whom I again travail in birth until Christ shall have been formed in you; and I should wish to be present with you now, and change my voice, for I am perplexed as to you" (verses 12-31, JND).
In the twelfth verse the apostle turns to his relations with the Galatian saints and answers charges made against him by the persons referred to in verse 17 who were influencing them toward keeping the law of Moses. The law had formerly claimed obedience from Paul, but he had become free of its claim through the death of Christ; as Gentiles, the Galatians had not been under law. "Be as I am, for I also am as ye, brethren," is his answer; that is, be free from the law, as being dead to it in Christ; you are Gentiles, and have never been, and are not, under the law at all, and "I am as ye are."
Apparently the Galatians thought that in charging Paul with not living according to the law, they were hurting his feelings, and so he says in verse 12, "ye have not at all wronged me"; he fully acknowledged that whatever he was by birth, and as a man, he had given up. The cross of Christ was the end of both the law and the flesh in God's sight.
Verses 13-15. When he came into Galatia, Paul carried with him something—he does not tell what—connected with his bodily state that made him, or might make him, contemptible to his hearers. It was the thorn in the flesh of 2 Corinthians 12:7. But those to whom the apostle writes received the word which he spoke, received him as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. What had become of the blessedness they then spoke of?
Verses 16-18. The false teachers had succeeded, in measure at least, in alienating the affections of the Galatians from the apostle.
"So I have become your enemy in speaking the truth to you?" They would, if they could, shut out the apostle from any contact with the Galatian saints, in order that they might attach them to themselves. Verse 18 suggests a reference to Philippians 2:12, where the apostle writes in far happier terms of the saints at Philippi:
"Ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence."
In Galatia, on the contrary, the saints, when deprived of the apostle's presence, had soon slipped from the sense of dependence upon God, and taken up with a fleshly use of the law.
Verses 19-20 bring out touchingly the apostle's affection for the saints, a love not weakened by their ingratitude, because that love was, in its source, divine. Perplexed as to them, he wanted to be present with them so as to deal with these believers as their condition of soul might be found to be.
"Tell me, ye who are desirous of being under law, do ye not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one of the maidservant (or bondmaid) and one of the freewoman. But he that was of the maidservant was born according to flesh, and he that was of the free woman through the promise. Which things have an allegorical sense, for these are two covenants, one from Mount Sinai, gendering to bondage, which is Hagar. For Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which is now, for she is in bondage with her children, but the Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother.
"For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break out and cry, thou that travailest not; because the children of the desolate, are more numerous than those of her that has a husband.
"But ye, brethren, after the pattern of Isaac, are children of promise. But as then he that was born according to flesh persecuted him that was born according to Spirit, so also it is now. But what says the Scripture? Cast out the maidservant (or bond-maid) and her son, for the son of the maidservant shall not inherit with the son of the free woman. So then, brethren, we are not maidservant's children, but children of the free woman" (verses 21-31, JND).
In these verses the Galatian saints are first referred to Genesis 21, verses 9-12, and what light is thrown upon that passage here! A striking contrast is seen between the child "according to flesh" and the child of the free-woman; the one connected with the principle of law embodied in the covenant of Sinai (Ex. 19, 20, etc.), and the other, the child of promise, of the Spirit, connected with the unconditional promise to Abraham in Genesis 22, verses 16-18.
"Jerusalem which is now," full of religion, but in bondage to sin as well as to the Romans, is no longer the mother of the Jew who has believed; he belongs to Jerusalem which is above; he belongs to Christ and thus to the heavenly Jerusalem. In support of this the apostle next quotes Isaiah 54:1, wherein Jerusalem is looked at as restored to God's favor, as it will be in the Millennium. Therein the statement is made that the children of the desolate are more numerous than those of her that has a husband, referring to the period of Israel's being set aside as the people of God, and viewing all that have received the offer of salvation since the day of Pentecost as children of desolate Jerusalem. At the time of which Isaiah 54 speaks, the Christians will be in their promised heavenly place, and the Jews, or the believing remnant of them, will have experienced their great spiritual awakening.
Verses 28 to 31 seem to call for no comment. The law, it is plain, was designed for man in the flesh, but we, believers, are called of God to another condition; we are children of the free woman.
The Epistle to the Galatians: Galatians 5:1-15
"Christ has set us free in freedom; stand fast therefore, and be not held again in a yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul, say to you that if ye are circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing. And I witness again to every man who is circumcised that he is debtor to do the whole law. Ye are deprived of all profit from the Christ as separated from Him, as many as are justified by law, ye have fallen from grace.
"For we, by Spirit, on the principle of faith, await the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision has any force, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love. Ye ran well; who has stopped you, that ye should not obey the truth? The persuasibleness is not of Him that calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. I have confidence as to you in the Lord that ye will have no other mind; and he that is troubling you shall bear the guilt of it, whosoever he may be" (Verses 1-10, New Translation of J. N. Darby).
Well, indeed, may the apostle say (verse 1),
"Christ has set us free in freedom; stand fast therefore, and be not held again in a yoke of bondage." By nature a Jew, Paul had been under the bondage of the law; the Christians of Galatia, born Gentiles and idolaters, had been under the bondage of their heathen religion. Thus he could say, "has set us free."
Then he refers to a thing imposed by God before the law was given, on Abraham and his descendants in Genesis 17:10, and afterward added to the requirements under the law in Leviticus 12:3. Circumcision typified having our old nature mortified; should not this rite be continued which connects us with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? No; whatever the use to which God applied circumcision before Christ, it is gone now, and the apostle emphatically declares (verse 2),
"Behold, I, Paul, say to you that if ye are circumcised," that is, if you as Christians should seek it as necessary to complete justification before God—"Christ shall profit you nothing."
Christ is a complete Saviour and an exclusive one, as another has remarked, and the addition of anything to His work is in effect to destroy salvation by Him.
Besides, as the next verse goes on to relate, every one who is circumcised in order to attain complete salvation, not being content with the work of Christ to that end, is a debtor to carry out every provision of the law. And that is hopeless; he would be back on the ground of a sinner. Sad indeed would that be.
"Ye are deprived of all profit from the Christ as separated from Him; as many as are justified by law; ye have fallen from grace" (verse 4).
It was not that they had departed from Christ openly, but that they had joined the law, together with Christ, as a means of justification, and it was therefore no longer grace, the free grace of God, on which they stood.
Verse 5 presents in contrast the Christian's position as given him by God,
"For we, by the Spirit, on the principle of faith, await the hope of righteousness."
The Spirit of God dwells in us, and we are the righteousness of God in Christ. Faith rests in this righteousness, as God rests in it. The Holy Spirit sustains this faith, and directs the believer to the hoped for glory which is due to the righteousness. There Christ is, enjoying the glory due to righteousness—due to Him because of the work. He wrought for God's glory and our salvation; and we shall soon follow Him there; our hope then is not the hope of attaining righteousness, for we have the righteousness of God, but the hope which righteousness possesses, of glory above. And in Christ Jesus neither circumcision has any force, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love.
We can see how the heart of the apostle was distressed over the thought of what the Galatian saints were doing in tampering with the truth of God,
"Ye ran well; who has stopped you, that ye should not obey the truth? The persuasibleness is not of Him that calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. I have confidence as to you in the Lord that ye will have no other mind; and he that is troubling you shall bear the guilt of it, whosoever he may be."
Paul reproaches the Galatians for having lent an ear to the teachers of Judaism who had found their way in among them. "Leaven" it was, in God's sight, that they had absorbed,—the very term that is used in 1 Corinthians 5 in characterizing the gross moral evil that had been uncovered in that assembly. Men would consider the shocking abuse of morals at Corinth as terrible, and think the Galatian error a minor thing, but God's thoughts are not as man's. The Galatians had taken up with a doctrine which was destructive of the gospel, and robbing Christ of His glory.
"But I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why am I yet persecuted? Then the scandal of the cross has been done away. I would that they would even cut themselves off who throw you into confusion. For ye have been called to liberty, brethren, only do not turn liberty into an opportunity to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself; but if ye bite and devour one another, see that ye are not consumed one of another" (verses 11-15 JND).
The book of the Acts shows that the Jews were the usual instigators of the persecution which befell the apostle. The fact that the gospel of Christ makes no provision for what Scripture calls "the flesh"—(the natural man), accounts for the opposition it has always had from the world. Another has said,
"Only preach circumcision, accept the religion of the flesh, and all difficulty will cease; the world will accept your gospel, but it will not be the gospel of Christ."
The Epistle to the Galatians: Galatians 5:15-26; 6:1-10
Chapter 5:15-26; Chapter 6:1-10
The apostle wishes that they who were troubling the Galatians would cut themselves off, but that has not happened; Christendom is today saturated with the doctrine of law-keeping as an aid to salvation. The believer has been called to liberty, but that is not to give opportunity to the old nature, the flesh; instead, we are by love to serve one another. The whole law is fulfilled in one word—"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
Liberty to the flesh might well take the form of attacking those who were not circumcised; so the apostle says, if ye bite and devour one another, see that ye are not consumed one of another. Religious flesh is capable of almost anything.
"But, I say, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall in no way fulfill flesh's lust. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these things are opposed one to the other, that ye should not do those things which ye desire; but if ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under law (verses 16-18, JND).
How important to heed the admonition of verse 16! The old nature, the flesh, is opposed to the new, in which the Holy Spirit works, in order that the believer may not do the things which he desires, but the Spirit is always prepared to be the believer's strength, to lead him where the flesh has no power.
Next, we are provided with an index to the works of the flesh, and following that, with the characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit (verses 19 to 23).
"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strifes, jealousies, angers, contentions, disputes, schools of opinion, envyings, murders, drunkenness’s, revels, and things like these; as to which I tell you beforehand, even as I also have said before, that they who do such things shall not inherit God's kingdom" (verses 19-21 JnD).
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law" (verses 22-23 JnD).
"The works of the flesh"—the things that are natural to it; what a shocking catalog! And what a contrast, the fruit of the Spirit! "Love, joy, peace"—these come from God, from His own nature. How lovely these nine specimens of the fruit of the Spirit are, as we compare them with the sixteen samples from the works of the flesh! Neither is a complete list, of course.
"But they that are of the Christ have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts" (verse 24, JND). It is by faith; the work is only really and fully done in Christ; it is in His cross that the crucifixion of the flesh with all its lusts, has taken place.
"Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin." Rom. 6:6 (JND).
"It is true of every believer, distinguishing him from the unsaved. We are to believe it, and to act accordingly.
"If we live by the Spirit, let us walk also by the Spirit." One more word of caution is needed, because pride comes out of the pretense of keeping the law:
"Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another." Verse 26 (JND).
"Brethren, if even a man be taken in some fault, ye who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." chapter 6:1 (JND). The case supposed is of a child of God who through carelessness commits a fault, is surprised into what is evil. The spiritual ones are to restore him in a spirit of meekness, considering each of them himself, lest he also be tempted. And who is a spiritual man? Is it not plain that it is one who not only lives by the Spirit (every believer does that), but walks also by the Spirit; such a one habitually judges himself before God.
Closely related to this is what follows in verses 2 to 5: "Bear one another's burdens, and thus fulfill the law of the Christ. For if any man reputes himself to be something, being nothing, he deceives himself; but let each prove his own work, and then he will have his boast in what belongs to himself alone, and not in what belongs to another. For each shall bear his own burden." (JND).
Should we not concern ourselves with the burden or burdens under which a brother may be groaning—need, distress, sorrows, trials, other difficulties? That was "the law of Christ," the rule of His life as He passed through this world. The Galatians wanted to be under law, and here was one for them, though the ten commandments included no such requirement.
Legalism, trying to keep the law for salvation, easily leads into prideful thoughts of self; he deceives himself; let him prove his own work, if there really was any Christian work of which he had been an instrument. In so far as the new teachers among the Galatians were concerned, it was not by themselves, but by Paul that the work of Christ had been wrought in that region. Verse 5 speaks of personal responsibility, as verse 2 treats of active love taking up the burdens of others. It is not a question of the judgment of God upon our sins in the fifth verse, but our responsibility now that we are Christ's to live to Him.
"Let him that is taught in the word communicate to him that teaches in all good things." Verse 6 (JND).
Here is a responsibility not shouldered by all the saints, and it is a cause of leanness in the soul. The Lord has His servants going about as they are able; their needs are known to Him, and He exercises the hearts of His saints here and there to meet these needs. If they were better provided for, would they not be able to visit saints, not now visited, and more often some who are not sufficiently visited? And those who labor in foreign lands—are they not apt to be neglected; the Bible Truth Depots, too?
There follows a solemn and an encouraging word: (verses 7 to 10):
"Be not deceived: God is not mocked; for whatever a man shall sow, that also shall he reap. For he that sows to his own flesh shall reap corruption from the flesh; but he that sows to the Spirit, from the Spirit shall reap eternal life; but let us not lose heart in doing good; for in due time if we do not faint we shall reap. So then, as we have occasion, let us do good towards all, and specially towards those of the household of faith." (JND).
There are consequences that follow the walk down here, that will be reflected in the position accorded each of us in glory. We have eternal life already, and it is put before us as a reward above for faithfulness down here.
The Epistle to the Galatians: Galatians 6:11-18
The conclusion of the Epistle is before us. "See how long a letter (or, it may be read, see in what large letters) I have written to you with my own hand. As many as desire to have a fair appearance in the flesh, these compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not be persecuted because of the cross of Christ.
"For neither do they that are circumcised, themselves keep the law, but they wish you to be circumcised, that they may boast in your flesh. But be it far from me to boast, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom (or, which) the world is crucified to me and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but new creation. And as many as shall walk by this rule, peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. For the rest, let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the brands of the Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen" (verses 11-18, JND).
In two passages, the apostle Paul has told how he safeguarded his inspired letters, in view of Satan's endeavors to injure God's saints (see 2 Thess. 2:2). One of these is 2 Thessalonians 3:17: "The salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle, so I write"; the other is 1 Corinthians 16:21: "The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand." An exception was made of the Epistle to the Galatians, the contents of which it is evident all through weighed much upon the Lord's servant, so that he would not follow the ordinary practice of dictation to one who, as Tertius in Romans 16:22 (perhaps a trained writer) would write down what was given to him for Paul to add his signature.
Bad as conditions were at Corinth, Paul dictated the two Epistles sent there; but so deep were his feelings over the teaching introduced in Galatia, that this letter must be penned entirely by his own hand. Unaccustomed to writing in a day when such work was done by persons trained for it, Paul calls the attention of the Galatians to the unusual fact of his own penmanship, emphasizing the importance of the Epistle. It is also unusual, one may observe, in its entire absence of any personal greetings.
Let us consider with what shameful neglect this Epistle has been treated by the Christian world, so called, and the more so since it is marked with such evidences of special character, special importance, throughout, and at its close! The apostle has revealed the key of the opposition which then was, and still is: It is found in "as many as desire to have a fair appearance in the flesh," and they insist that there shall be no persecution—bringing in mention of the cross of Christ (verse 12). In the apostle's day this opposition was Jewish; now it is Gentile, but the principle it follows has not changed. Religion which has room for boasting in what Scripture calls "the flesh," is not of true Christianity, of course, Wherein then is boasting? The answer is found in verses 14 and 15.
It is only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ that I can boast, the apostle responds, and then he adds, through whom (or through which, for both are true) the world is crucified to me and I to the world. Shall we seek to simplify the meaning of these last statements? The Christian is the present witness of Christ in the world, and is not of the world, though he is in it. First, then the cross of Christ is that which crucifies the Christian to the world; it puts him entirely outside it, as one saved out of it. Second, the world is crucified to the Christian; thus the world is seen with all its unremoved guilt and ignorance of the Father, notwithstanding the coming of the Son. Accordingly, there can be no common ground between a Christian and the world (W. Kelly, Notes on the Epistle to the Galatians, 1864).
Very important is it for his own walk before God that the believer seek to learn well these lessons about the cross which have been presented to us in the Epistle to the Galatians. Here they are in three easily memorized passages:
1. Gal. 2:20. "I am crucified with Christ, and no longer live, I, but Christ lives in me; but in that I now live in flesh, I live by faith, the faith of the Son of God, who has loved me and given Himself for me."
2. Gal. 5:24. "But they that are of the Christ have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts."
3. Gal. 6:14. "But be it far from me to boast, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom (or which) the world is crucified to me and I to the world."
In No. 1 The cross of Christ is viewed as deliverance from the law. In No. 2 The doctrine of the cross is applied to the flesh—the old nature. In No. 3 it is applied to the world. How does this touch you, young Christian?
Verse 15. But there is more in what is told here than being crucified to the world. "For in Christ Jesus neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but new creation." The believer has blessing from God, made good through the cross, and he is in new creation. As another has said, he belongs to a system already set up in Christ in the presence of God. I know what my new nature is, when I think of Christ. I see Him risen from the dead and in glory. There all believers will be; and meanwhile they have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them, the earnest of that coming glory. It is called here the new creation because it is not life only, but new life in contrast with the old, and implying not only the person, but the work of Christ.
Verse 16. "This rule" is the rule of the new creation, Christ himself. The only portion of Israel God acknowledges now, are the real believers among them, those in whom there is faith in Christ.
Verse 17. Let none henceforth trouble Paul about his ministry, for in his body he bore the brands of the Lord Jesus as his Master; scourged and stoned and imprisoned, what mark of indignity had not been put on him for Christ's sake? These, and not circumcision, were the brands of the Lord Jesus. What a condemnation was this of the men who sought to exalt themselves among the Galatian Christians, while pressing their bad doctrines.
Verse 18. Very gracious, indeed, is the close of the Epistle which is according to the divine love which filled the writer, whatever the state of those might be to whom he wrote. But we look in vain for any personal greetings; the apostle's heart turned to the dishonored Christ, and his pen could not spell out a single word of personal regard for those he loved.
The Epistle to the Galatians has been rightly called the death blow to the religious world, root and branch, as it is to a revival or continuance of the same system in our day, the enemy, not of the saints only, but, of the cross of Christ.